Systems and methods for e-commerce checkout with delay loading of checkout options

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for progressively providing checkout options during a checkout transaction are provided. During a transaction process, a user interface with an options category having a set of checkout options is provided. Requests associated with the checkout options are transmitted, with at least one of the transmitted queries being transmitted to a remote third-party. One or more of the checkout options are identified as a first set of options and others are identified as a second set of options. The user interface is updated to display the first set of options and a selectable UI element prior to display of the second set of options, where all of the second set of options are hidden from display prior to selection of the selectable UI element. The checkout transaction is completable using one of the options from the first set of options without display of the second set of options.

FIELD

The present disclosure is related to systems and methods for completinga checkout transaction. In particular, the present disclosure relates tosystems and methods for enabling completion of a checkout transactiondespite all possible checkout options not having yet been loaded such aswhere checkout options may be delay loaded.

BACKGROUND

A customer wishing to purchase a product using an online service (e.g.an online e-commerce platform, or a dedicated online checkout service)may be required to complete the purchase by completing a checkouttransaction. During the checkout transaction (or simply the checkout), acustomer is often provided with selectable options for differentcomponents or aspects of the transaction that cannot be determined aheadof time. These components/aspects may be services that includeoperations provided by third-party service providers, such as shipping.Because third-party services and rates can often change, many of theselectable options often require the online platform to make externalcalls (such as application programming interface (API) calls) out to theexternal remote server of the third-party service provider in order todetermine their current rates.

External calls made during checkout typically require a round-triprequest-and-response from a third-party application that is hosted atthe remote server. The speed of such an external call may be dependenton the level of technology infrastructure, server speeds, and networkconnection speeds provided by the third parties and/or the connectivityproviders. As such, delays in such external calls may be largely causedby delays that are outside the control of the online service that isproviding the checkout.

Upon encountering such a delay, a customer may be presented with aloading cursor (e.g. a spinner) in a checkout user interface (UI) toindicate that checkout options are being loaded. The customer then hasto wait for all of the options to be loaded and displayed beforecontinuing with the checkout transaction.

SUMMARY

In existing online checkout systems, all checkout options need to beloaded and available for user selection before the checkout transactioncan be completed. If a response from a remote third-party server isrequired for some of the checkout options, the wait for a response canlead to delays in the checkout transaction.

However, it can be an inefficient use of computer resources to requireall external calls to be completed (i.e., response received from theremote server) before the checkout transaction itself can be completed.Loading and displaying all third-party checkout options for multipleoption categories can be both time consuming and a drain on the computerresources (e.g. including computer processing capacity, memoryresources, etc.) of the online service that is providing the checkoutprocess, especially since a customer may be only required to select onecheckout option in each option category in order to complete thetransaction. Further, network resources (e.g. network bandwidth, networkports, etc.) are consumed by responses to the external calls, eventhough the responses may be for options that end up not being selectedby the customer (meaning the information and data carried in thoseresponses are wasted). Thus, in the end, computer resources (includingthe processing power, memory storage, and bandwidth used to make all ofthe third-party calls, and to load and display all of the checkoutoptions for all of the option categories) are essentially “wasted” forthe unselected checkout options.

Further, delays that occur during checkout can cause customer confusion,as the customer may perceive or assume that the UI is unresponsive. Thismay result in a customer cancelling their transaction, leaving/reloadingthe page, or the transaction being interrupted, etc., all of which canalso be a further waste of computer resources (e.g. wasted processingpower and memory resources to reload the checkout page). Even if thecustomer does not reload the checkout page, there is still a waste ofcomputer resources because the memory resources required to carry outthe checkout transaction are occupied (and unavailable for use in otherprocesses) until the checkout transaction is completed or abandoned. Itshould be understood that such wastage is greatly amplified by the largenumber of customers who may be simultaneously attempting to complete acheckout using the online service. Thus, delays in the checkouttransaction may cause not only inconvenience to a customer, but may alsoresult in significant drain on computer resources.

Thus, the present disclosure relates to methods and systems to enablecompletion of a checkout transaction even if all possible checkoutoptions are not yet loaded. In particular, one or more possible checkoutoptions may be delay loaded. Examples of the present disclosure providetechnical improvements in that checkout options may be automaticallycategorized into first and second sets of options (such as quick-load orslow-load). The second set/slow-load options, also referred to as delayloaded options, are hidden from display until a UI element (e.g. anexpander) is selected by the customer, while at least one of the optionsin the first set/quick-load options is immediately displayed (e.g. assoon as information for the at least one displayed option becomesavailable). The second set of options may be delay loaded (e.g., loadedand available to display only after a certain amount of time). Thecustomer can complete the checkout transaction with the at least oneoption of the first set of options, even if the second set of optionshave not yet loaded or are not yet available. This provides thetechnical advantage that the checkout transaction can be completedwithout having to waste time and/or computer resources to load allpossible checkout options (including third-party checkout options thatrequire external calls to remote servers).

In some examples, the present disclosure describes a system comprising:at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memorystoring instructions executable by the at least one processor to causethe system to: provide, to a remote client device via a network, a userinterface for completing a checkout transaction, the user interfaceincluding an options category associated with the checkout transaction,the options category having an associated set of checkout options;transmit, via the network, requests associated with respective ones ofthe checkout options, at least one of the transmitted queries beingtransmitted to a remote third-party server, wherein selection of one ofthe checkout options is required to complete the checkout transaction;identify one or more of the checkout options as a first set of optionsand others of the checkout options as a second set of options; send anindication to the remote client device to update the user interface todisplay at least one of the checkout options from the first set ofoptions after receipt of a reply to one or more of the requests andprior to display of the second set of options; send an indication to theremote client device to display a selectable user interface element,wherein all of the second set of options are hidden from display priorto selection of the selectable user interface element; and enablecompletion of the checkout transaction using one of the checkout optionsfrom the first set of options displayed on the user interface, prior toreceiving responses from respective queries for all of the second set ofoptions.

In the above example, the first set of options may be quick-loadingoptions, and the second set of options may be slow-loading options,wherein the quick-loading options load faster than the slow-loadingoptions.

In any of the above examples, one option of the first set of optionsdisplayed may be automatically selected as a default option, and the atleast one processor may be further configured to execute theinstructions to cause the system to: responsive to selection of theoption to complete the checkout transaction, trigger completion of thecheckout transaction using the default option.

In any of the above examples, the at least one processor may be furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to cause the system to:responsive to selection of the selectable user interface element at theremote client device, send an indication to the remote user device toupdate the user interface to: display any remaining quick-loadingoptions, and display a loading indicator for the slow-loading optionswhen responses from the respective queries have not all been received;or display the slow-loading options for which responses from therespective queries have all been received.

In any of the above examples, the at least one processor may be furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to cause the system to transmitthe queries for checkout options in response to detecting a triggerevent.

In any of the above examples, the options category may relate toshipping and the trigger event may be receipt of a shipping address.

In any of the above examples, the at least one processor may be furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to cause the system to determine,based on any responses from the queries, whether each of the checkoutoptions belongs in the first set of options or in the second set ofoptions.

In any of the above examples, each of the checkout options may bedetermined to be the first set of options or the second set of optionsbased on at least one of: a threshold cut-off time for receiving aresponse; historical measurements for receiving a response from similarqueries; analysis of network communications and/or fulfilment networkconfigurations related to each query; and a merchant configuration.

In any of the above examples, the available checkout options may bedetermined to be quick-loading or slow-loading based on the thresholdcut-off time, the threshold cut-off time being dynamically determinedfor a customer based on the customer's historical response times.

In any of the above examples, the at least one processor may be furtherconfigured to execute the instructions to cause the system to: identifyfaster and slower loading options of the slow-loading options, where inthe slower slow-loading options require more time to receive a responsefrom the respective query than the faster slow-loading options; andresponsive to selection of the selectable user interface element:display any remaining quick-loading options; and display the fasterslow-loading options after receiving responses from respective queriesfor the faster slow-loading options, prior to displaying the slowerslow-loading options.

In some example aspects, the present disclosure describes a methodcomprising: providing a user interface to a remote client device via anetwork for completing a checkout transaction, the user interfaceincluding an options category associated with the checkout transaction,the options category having an associated set of checkout options;transmitting requests associated with respective ones of the checkoutoptions via the network, at least one of the transmitted queries beingtransmitted to a remote third-party server, wherein selection of one ofthe checkout options is required to complete the checkout transaction;identify one or more of the checkout options as a first set of optionsand others of the checkout options as a second set of options; sendingan indication to the remote client device to update the user interfaceto display at least one of the first set of options after receipt of areply to one or more of the requests and prior to display of the secondset of options; sending an indication to the remote client device todisplay a selectable user interface element on the user interface,wherein all of the second set of options are hidden from display priorto selection of the selectable user interface element; and enablingcompletion of the checkout transaction using one of the at least one ofthe first set of options displayed on the user interface, prior toreceiving responses from respective queries for all of the second set ofoptions.

In some examples, the method may include any of the steps performed bythe processor described herein.

In some example aspects, the present disclosure describes acomputer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by aprocessor of a system, cause the system to: provide, to a remote clientdevice via a network, a user interface for completing a checkouttransaction, the user interface including an options category associatedwith the checkout transaction, the options category having an associatedset of checkout options; transmit, via the network, requests associatedwith respective ones of the checkout options, at least one of thetransmitted queries being transmitted to a remote third-party server,wherein selection of one of the checkout options is required to completethe checkout transaction; identify one or more of the checkout optionsas quick-loading options and others of the checkout options asslow-loading options; send an indication to the remote client device toupdate the user interface to display at least one of the quick-loadingoptions after receipt of a reply to one or more of the requests andprior to display of the slow-loading options; send an indication to theremote client device to display a selectable user interface element onthe user interface, wherein all of the slow-loading options are hiddenfrom display prior to selection of the selectable user interfaceelement; and enable completion of the checkout transaction using one ofthe at least one of the quick-loading options displayed on the userinterface, prior to receiving responses from respective queries for allof the slow-loading options.

In some examples, the computer-readable medium, when executed by theprocessor, may cause the system to perform any of the methods describedherein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanyingdrawings which show example embodiments of the present application, andin which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example e-commerce platform, in whichexamples described herein may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is an example homepage of an administrator, which may be accessedvia the e-commerce platform of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is another block diagram of the e-commerce platform of FIG. 1 ,showing some details related to application development;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example implementation of thee-commerce platform of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is another block diagram of the e-commerce platform of FIG. 1 ,showing some details related to progressive loading of checkout options;

FIG. 6 is a signaling diagram illustrating example communicationsbetween a user device and a conventional e-commerce platform during atypical checkout transaction;

FIG. 7 is a signaling diagram illustrating example communicationsbetween a user device and the checkout options manager during a checkouttransaction, for enabling progressive loading of checkout options, inaccordance with examples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for progressiveloading of checkout options, which may be implemented using the checkoutoptions manager, in accordance with examples of the present disclosure;and

FIGS. 9A-9D illustrate some example presentation formats for progressiveloading of checkout options.

Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures todenote similar components.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure will be described in the context of an e-commerceplatform, discussed below. However, it should be understood that thisdiscussion is only for the purpose of illustration and is not intendedto be limiting. Further, it should be understood that the presentdisclosure may be implemented in other contexts, and is not necessarilylimited to implementation in an e-commerce platform. For example, acheckout transaction for completing an online purchase may be providedby an online checkout service that is not necessarily part of ane-commerce platform. In another example, an online store, which may notbe hosted by an e-commerce platform (i.e. the online store is astandalone online store) may provide an online checkout service. Othersuch possibilities are contemplated within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

An Example E-Commerce Platform

Although integration with a commerce platform is not required, in someembodiments, the methods disclosed herein may be performed on or inassociation with a commerce platform such as an e-commerce platform.Therefore, an example of a commerce platform will be described.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example e-commerce platform 100, according to oneembodiment. The e-commerce platform 100 may be used to provide merchantproducts and services to customers. While the disclosure contemplatesusing the apparatus, system, and process to purchase products andservices, for simplicity the description herein will refer to products.All references to products throughout this disclosure should also beunderstood to be references to products and/or services, including, forexample, physical products, digital content (e.g., music, videos, andgames), software, tickets, subscriptions, services to be provided, andthe like.

While the disclosure throughout contemplates that a ‘merchant’ and a‘customer’ may be more than individuals, for simplicity the descriptionherein may generally refer to merchants and customers as such. Allreferences to merchants and customers throughout this disclosure shouldalso be understood to be references to groups of individuals, companies,corporations, computing entities, and the like, and may representfor-profit or not-for-profit exchange of products. Further, while thedisclosure throughout refers to ‘merchants’ and ‘customers’, anddescribes their roles as such, the e-commerce platform 100 should beunderstood to more generally support users in an e-commerce environment,and all references to merchants and customers throughout this disclosureshould also be understood to be references to users, such as where auser is a merchant-user (e.g., a seller, retailer, wholesaler, orprovider of products), a customer-user (e.g., a buyer, purchase agent,consumer, or user of products), a prospective user (e.g., a userbrowsing and not yet committed to a purchase, a user evaluating thee-commerce platform 100 for potential use in marketing and sellingproducts, and the like), a service provider user (e.g., a shippingprovider 112, a financial provider, and the like), a company orcorporate user (e.g., a company representative for purchase, sales, oruse of products; an enterprise user; a customer relations or customermanagement agent, and the like), an information technology user, acomputing entity user (e.g., a computing bot for purchase, sales, or useof products), and the like. Furthermore, it may be recognized that whilea given user may act in a given role (e.g., as a merchant) and theirassociated device may be referred to accordingly (e.g., as a merchantdevice) in one context, that same individual may act in a different rolein another context (e.g., as a customer) and that same or anotherassociated device may be referred to accordingly (e.g., as a customerdevice). For example, an individual may be a merchant for one type ofproduct (e.g., shoes), and a customer/consumer of other types ofproducts (e.g., groceries). In another example, an individual may beboth a consumer and a merchant of the same type of product. In aparticular example, a merchant that trades in a particular category ofgoods may act as a customer for that same category of goods when theyorder from a wholesaler (the wholesaler acting as merchant).

The e-commerce platform 100 provides merchants with onlineservices/facilities to manage their business. The facilities describedherein are shown implemented as part of the platform 100 but could alsobe configured separately from the platform 100, in whole or in part, asstand-alone services. Furthermore, such facilities may, in someembodiments, may, additionally or alternatively, be provided by one ormore providers/entities.

In the example of FIG. 1 , the facilities are deployed through amachine, service or engine that executes computer software, modules,program codes, and/or instructions on one or more processors which, asnoted above, may be part of or external to the platform 100. Merchantsmay utilize the e-commerce platform 100 for enabling or managingcommerce with customers, such as by implementing an e-commerceexperience with customers through an online store 138, applications142A-B, channels 110A-B, and/or through point of sale (POS) devices 152in physical locations (e.g., a physical storefront or other locationsuch as through a kiosk, terminal, reader, printer, 3D printer, and thelike). A merchant may utilize the e-commerce platform 100 as a solecommerce presence with customers, or in conjunction with other merchantcommerce facilities, such as through a physical store (e.g.,‘brick-and-mortar’ retail stores), a merchant off-platform website 104(e.g., a commerce Internet website or other internet or web property orasset supported by or on behalf of the merchant separately from thee-commerce platform 100), an application 142B, and the like. However,even these ‘other’ merchant commerce facilities may be incorporated intoor communicate with the e-commerce platform 100, such as where POSdevices 152 in a physical store of a merchant are linked into thee-commerce platform 100, where a merchant off-platform website 104 istied into the e-commerce platform 100, such as, for example, through‘buy buttons’ that link content from the merchant off platform website104 to the online store 138, or the like.

The online store 138 may represent a multi-tenant facility comprising aplurality of virtual storefronts. In embodiments, merchants mayconfigure and/or manage one or more storefronts in the online store 138,such as, for example, through a merchant device 102 (e.g., computer,laptop computer, mobile computing device, and the like), and offerproducts to customers through a number of different channels 110A-B(e.g., an online store 138; an application 142A-B; a physical storefrontthrough a POS device 152; an electronic marketplace, such, for example,through an electronic buy button integrated into a website or socialmedia channel such as on a social network, social media page, socialmedia messaging system; and/or the like). A merchant may sell acrosschannels 110A-B and then manage their sales through the e-commerceplatform 100, where channels 110A may be provided as a facility orservice internal or external to the e-commerce platform 100. A merchantmay, additionally or alternatively, sell in their physical retail store,at pop ups, through wholesale, over the phone, and the like, and thenmanage their sales through the e-commerce platform 100. A merchant mayemploy all or any combination of these operational modalities. Notably,it may be that by employing a variety of and/or a particular combinationof modalities, a merchant may improve the probability and/or volume ofsales. Throughout this disclosure the terms online store 138 andstorefront may be used synonymously to refer to a merchant's onlinee-commerce service offering through the e-commerce platform 100, wherean online store 138 may refer either to a collection of storefrontssupported by the e-commerce platform 100 (e.g., for one or a pluralityof merchants) or to an individual merchant's storefront (e.g., amerchant's online store).

In some embodiments, a customer may interact with the platform 100through a customer device 150 (e.g., computer, laptop computer, mobilecomputing device, or the like), a POS device 152 (e.g., retail device,kiosk, automated (self-service) checkout system, or the like), and/orany other commerce interface device known in the art. The e-commerceplatform 100 may enable merchants to reach customers through the onlinestore 138, through applications 142A-B, through POS devices 152 inphysical locations (e.g., a merchant's storefront or elsewhere), tocommunicate with customers via electronic communication facility 129,and/or the like so as to provide a system for reaching customers andfacilitating merchant services for the real or virtual pathwaysavailable for reaching and interacting with customers.

In some embodiments, and as described further herein, the e-commerceplatform 100 may be implemented through a processing facility. Such aprocessing facility may include a processor and a memory. The processormay be a hardware processor. The memory may be and/or may include anon-transitory computer-readable medium. The memory may be and/or mayinclude random access memory (RAM) and/or persisted storage (e.g.,magnetic storage). The processing facility may store a set ofinstructions (e.g., in the memory) that, when executed, cause thee-commerce platform 100 to perform the e-commerce and support functionsas described herein. The processing facility may be or may be a part ofone or more of a server, client, network infrastructure, mobilecomputing platform, cloud computing platform, stationary computingplatform, and/or some other computing platform, and may provideelectronic connectivity and communications between and amongst thecomponents of the e-commerce platform 100, merchant devices 102, paymentgateways 106, applications 142A-B, channels 110A-B, shipping providers112, customer devices 150, point of sale devices 152, etc. In someimplementations, the processing facility may be or may include one ormore such computing devices acting in concert. For example, it may bethat a plurality of co-operating computing devices serves as/to providethe processing facility. The e-commerce platform 100 may be implementedas or using one or more of a cloud computing service, software as aservice (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as aservice (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), managed software as aservice (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), informationtechnology management as a service (ITMaaS), and/or the like. Forexample, it may be that the underlying software implementing thefacilities described herein (e.g., the online store 138) is provided asa service, and is centrally hosted (e.g., and then accessed by users viaa web browser or other application, and/or through customer devices 150,POS devices 152, and/or the like). In some embodiments, elements of thee-commerce platform 100 may be implemented to operate and/or integratewith various other platforms and operating systems.

In some embodiments, the facilities of the e-commerce platform 100(e.g., the online store 138) may serve content to a customer device 150(using data 134) such as, for example, through a network connected tothe e-commerce platform 100. For example, the online store 138 may serveor send content in response to requests for data 134 from the customerdevice 150, where a browser (or other application) connects to theonline store 138 through a network using a network communicationprotocol (e.g., an internet protocol). The content may be written inmachine readable language and may include Hypertext Markup Language(HTML), template language, JavaScript, and the like, and/or anycombination thereof.

In some embodiments, online store 138 may be or may include serviceinstances that serve content to customer devices and allow customers tobrowse and purchase the various products available (e.g., add them to acart, purchase through a buy-button, and the like). Merchants may alsocustomize the look and feel of their website through a theme system,such as, for example, a theme system where merchants can select andchange the look and feel of their online store 138 by changing theirtheme while having the same underlying product and business data shownwithin the online store's product information. It may be that themes canbe further customized through a theme editor, a design interface thatenables users to customize their website's design with flexibility.Additionally or alternatively, it may be that themes can, additionallyor alternatively, be customized using theme-specific settings such as,for example, settings as may change aspects of a given theme, such as,for example, specific colors, fonts, and pre-built layout schemes. Insome implementations, the online store may implement a contentmanagement system for website content. Merchants may employ such acontent management system in authoring blog posts or static pages andpublish them to their online store 138, such as through blogs, articles,landing pages, and the like, as well as configure navigation menus.Merchants may upload images (e.g., for products), video, content, data,and the like to the e-commerce platform 100, such as for storage by thesystem (e.g., as data 134). In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform100 may provide functions for manipulating such images and content suchas, for example, functions for resizing images, associating an imagewith a product, adding and associating text with an image, adding animage for a new product variant, protecting images, and the like.

As described herein, the e-commerce platform 100 may provide merchantswith sales and marketing services for products through a number ofdifferent channels 110A-B, including, for example, the online store 138,applications 142A-B, as well as through physical POS devices 152 asdescribed herein. The e-commerce platform 100 may, additionally oralternatively, include business support services 116, an administrator114, a warehouse management system, and the like associated with runningan on-line business, such as, for example, one or more of providing adomain registration service 118 associated with their online store,payment services 120 for facilitating transactions with a customer,shipping services 122 for providing customer shipping options forpurchased products, fulfilment services for managing inventory, risk andinsurance services 124 associated with product protection and liability,merchant billing, and the like. Services 116 may be provided via thee-commerce platform 100 or in association with external facilities, suchas through a payment gateway 106 for payment processing, shippingproviders 112 for expediting the shipment of products, and the like.

In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may be configured withshipping services 122 (e.g., through an e-commerce platform shippingfacility or through a third-party shipping carrier), to provide variousshipping-related information to merchants and/or their customers suchas, for example, shipping label or rate information, real-time deliveryupdates, tracking, and/or the like.

FIG. 2 depicts a non-limiting embodiment for a home page of anadministrator 114. The administrator 114 may be referred to as anadministrative console and/or an administrator console. Theadministrator 114 may show information about daily tasks, a store'srecent activity, and the next steps a merchant can take to build theirbusiness. In some embodiments, a merchant may log in to theadministrator 114 via a merchant device 102 (e.g., a desktop computer ormobile device), and manage aspects of their online store 138, such as,for example, viewing the online store's 138 recent visit or orderactivity, updating the online store's 138 catalog, managing orders,and/or the like. In some embodiments, the merchant may be able to accessthe different sections of the administrator 114 by using a sidebar, suchas the one shown on FIG. 2 . Sections of the administrator 114 mayinclude various interfaces for accessing and managing core aspects of amerchant's business, including orders, products, customers, availablereports and discounts. The administrator 114 may, additionally oralternatively, include interfaces for managing sales channels for astore including the online store 138, mobile application(s) madeavailable to customers for accessing the store (Mobile App), POSdevices, and/or a buy button. The administrator 114 may, additionally oralternatively, include interfaces for managing applications (apps)installed on the merchant's account; and settings applied to amerchant's online store 138 and account. A merchant may use a search barto find products, pages, or other information in their store.

More detailed information about commerce and visitors to a merchant'sonline store 138 may be viewed through reports or metrics. Reports mayinclude, for example, acquisition reports, behavior reports, customerreports, finance reports, marketing reports, sales reports, productreports, and custom reports. The merchant may be able to view sales datafor different channels 110A-B from different periods of time (e.g.,days, weeks, months, and the like), such as by using drop-down menus. Anoverview dashboard may also be provided for a merchant who wants a moredetailed view of the store's sales and engagement data. An activity feedin the home metrics section may be provided to illustrate an overview ofthe activity on the merchant's account. For example, by clicking on a‘view all recent activity’ dashboard button, the merchant may be able tosee a longer feed of recent activity on their account. A home page mayshow notifications about the merchant's online store 138, such as basedon account status, growth, recent customer activity, order updates, andthe like. Notifications may be provided to assist a merchant withnavigating through workflows configured for the online store 138, suchas, for example, a payment workflow, an order fulfilment workflow, anorder archiving workflow, a return workflow, and the like.

The e-commerce platform 100 may provide for a communications facility129 and associated merchant interface for providing electroniccommunications and marketing, such as utilizing an electronic messagingfacility for collecting and analyzing communication interactions betweenmerchants, customers, merchant devices 102, customer devices 150, POSdevices 152, and the like, to aggregate and analyze the communications,such as for increasing sale conversions, and the like. For instance, acustomer may have a question related to a product, which may produce adialog between the customer and the merchant (or an automatedprocessor-based agent/chatbot representing the merchant), where thecommunications facility 129 is configured to provide automated responsesto customer requests and/or provide recommendations to the merchant onhow to respond such as, for example, to improve the probability of asale.

The e-commerce platform 100 may provide a financial facility 120 forsecure financial transactions with customers, such as through a securecard server environment. The e-commerce platform 100 may store creditcard information, such as in payment card industry data (PCI)environments (e.g., a card server), to reconcile financials, billmerchants, perform automated clearing house (ACH) transfers between thee-commerce platform 100 and a merchant's bank account, and the like. Thefinancial facility 120 may also provide merchants and buyers withfinancial support, such as through the lending of capital (e.g., lendingfunds, cash advances, and the like) and provision of insurance. In someembodiments, online store 138 may support a number of independentlyadministered storefronts and process a large volume of transactionaldata on a daily basis for a variety of products and services.Transactional data may include any customer information indicative of acustomer, a customer account or transactions carried out by a customersuch as. for example, contact information, billing information, shippinginformation, returns/refund information, discount/offer information,payment information, or online store events or information such as pageviews, product search information (search keywords, click-throughevents), product reviews, abandoned carts, and/or other transactionalinformation associated with business through the e-commerce platform100. In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may store thisdata in a data facility 134. Referring again to FIG. 1 , in someembodiments the e-commerce platform 100 may include a commercemanagement engine 136 such as may be configured to perform variousworkflows for task automation or content management related to products,inventory, customers, orders, suppliers, reports, financials, risk andfraud, and the like. In some embodiments, additional functionality may,additionally or alternatively, be provided through applications 142A-Bto enable greater flexibility and customization required foraccommodating an ever-growing variety of online stores, POS devices,products, and/or services. Applications 142A may be components of thee-commerce platform 100 whereas applications 142B may be provided orhosted as a third-party service external to e-commerce platform 100. Thecommerce management engine 136 may accommodate store-specific workflowsand in some embodiments, may incorporate the administrator 114 and/orthe online store 138.

Implementing functions as applications 142A-B may enable the commercemanagement engine 136 to remain responsive and reduce or avoid servicedegradation or more serious infrastructure failures, and the like.

Although isolating online store data can be important to maintainingdata privacy between online stores 138 and merchants, there may bereasons for collecting and using cross-store data, such as, for example,with an order risk assessment system or a platform payment facility,both of which require information from multiple online stores 138 toperform well. In some embodiments, it may be preferable to move thesecomponents out of the commerce management engine 136 and into their owninfrastructure within the e-commerce platform 100.

Platform payment facility 120 is an example of a component that utilizesdata from the commerce management engine 136 but is implemented as aseparate component or service. The platform payment facility 120 mayallow customers interacting with online stores 138 to have their paymentinformation stored safely by the commerce management engine 136 suchthat they only have to enter it once. When a customer visits a differentonline store 138, even if they have never been there before, theplatform payment facility 120 may recall their information to enable amore rapid and/or potentially less-error prone (e.g., through avoidanceof possible mis-keying of their information if they needed to insteadre-enter it) checkout. This may provide a cross-platform network effect,where the e-commerce platform 100 becomes more useful to its merchantsand buyers as more merchants and buyers join, such as because there aremore customers who checkout more often because of the ease of use withrespect to customer purchases. To maximize the effect of this network,payment information for a given customer may be retrievable and madeavailable globally across multiple online stores 138.

For functions that are not included within the commerce managementengine 136, applications 142A-B provide a way to add features to thee-commerce platform 100 or individual online stores 138. For example,applications 142A-B may be able to access and modify data on amerchant's online store 138, perform tasks through the administrator114, implement new flows for a merchant through a user interface (e.g.,that is surfaced through extensions/API), and the like. Merchants may beenabled to discover and install applications 142A-B through applicationsearch, recommendations, and support 128. In some embodiments, thecommerce management engine 136, applications 142A-B, and theadministrator 114 may be developed to work together. For instance,application extension points may be built inside the commerce managementengine 136, accessed by applications 142A and 142B through theinterfaces 140B and 140A to deliver additional functionality, andsurfaced to the merchant in the user interface of the administrator 114.

In some embodiments, applications 142A-B may deliver functionality to amerchant through the interface 140A-B, such as where an application142A-B is able to surface transaction data to a merchant (e.g., App:“Engine, surface my app data in the Mobile App or administrator 114”),and/or where the commerce management engine 136 is able to ask theapplication to perform work on demand (Engine: “App, give me a local taxcalculation for this checkout”).

Applications 142A-B may be connected to the commerce management engine136 through an interface 140A-B (e.g., through REST (REpresentationalState Transfer) and/or GraphQL APIs) to expose the functionality and/ordata available through and within the commerce management engine 136 tothe functionality of applications. For instance, the e-commerce platform100 may provide API interfaces 140A-B to applications 142A-B which mayconnect to products and services external to the platform 100. Theflexibility offered through use of applications and APIs (e.g., asoffered for application development) enable the e-commerce platform 100to better accommodate new and unique needs of merchants or to addressspecific use cases without requiring constant change to the commercemanagement engine 136. For instance, shipping services 122 may beintegrated with the commerce management engine 136 through a shipping orcarrier service API, thus enabling the e-commerce platform 100 toprovide shipping service functionality without directly impacting coderunning in the commerce management engine 136.

Depending on the implementation, applications 142A-B may utilize APIs topull data on demand (e.g., customer creation events, product changeevents, or order cancelation events, etc.) or have the data pushed whenupdates occur. A subscription model may be used to provide applications142A-B with events as they occur or to provide updates with respect to achanged state of the commerce management engine 136. In someembodiments, when a change related to an update event subscriptionoccurs, the commerce management engine 136 may post a request, such asto a predefined callback URL. The body of this request may contain a newstate of the object and a description of the action or event. Updateevent subscriptions may be created manually, in the administratorfacility 114, or automatically (e.g., via the API 140A-B). In someembodiments, update events may be queued and processed asynchronouslyfrom a state change that triggered them, which may produce an updateevent notification that is not distributed in real-time or near-realtime.

In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may provide one or moreof application search, recommendation and support 128. Applicationsearch, recommendation and support 128 may include developer productsand tools to aid in the development of applications, an applicationdashboard (e.g., to provide developers with a development interface, toadministrators for management of applications, to merchants forcustomization of applications, and the like), facilities for installingand providing permissions with respect to providing access to anapplication 142A-B (e.g., for public access, such as where criteria mustbe met before being installed, or for private use by a merchant),application searching to make it easy for a merchant to search forapplications 142A-B that satisfy a need for their online store 138,application recommendations to provide merchants with suggestions on howthey can improve the user experience through their online store 138, andthe like. In some embodiments, applications 142A-B may be assigned anapplication identifier (ID), such as for linking to an application(e.g., through an API), searching for an application, making applicationrecommendations, and the like.

Applications 142A-B may be grouped roughly into three categories:customer-facing applications, merchant-facing applications, integrationapplications, and the like. Customer-facing applications 142A-B mayinclude an online store 138 or channels 110A-B that are places wheremerchants can list products and have them purchased (e.g., the onlinestore, applications for flash sales (e.g., merchant products or fromopportunistic sales opportunities from third-party sources), a mobilestore application, a social media channel, an application for providingwholesale purchasing, and the like). Merchant-facing applications 142A-Bmay include applications that allow the merchant to administer theironline store 138 (e.g., through applications related to the web orwebsite or to mobile devices), run their business (e.g., throughapplications related to POS devices), to grow their business (e.g.,through applications related to shipping (e.g., drop shipping), use ofautomated agents, use of process flow development and improvements), andthe like. Integration applications may include applications that provideuseful integrations that participate in the running of a business, suchas shipping providers 112 and payment gateways 106.

As such, the e-commerce platform 100 can be configured to provide anonline shopping experience through a flexible system architecture thatenables merchants to connect with customers in a flexible andtransparent manner. A typical customer experience may be betterunderstood through an embodiment example purchase workflow, where thecustomer browses the merchant's products on a channel 110A-B, adds whatthey intend to buy to their cart, proceeds to checkout, and pays for thecontent of their cart resulting in the creation of an order for themerchant. The merchant may then review and fulfill (or cancel) theorder. The product is then delivered to the customer. If the customer isnot satisfied, they might return the products to the merchant.

In an example embodiment, a customer may browse a merchant's productsthrough a number of different channels 110A-B such as, for example, themerchant's online store 138, a physical storefront through a POS device152; an electronic marketplace, through an electronic buy buttonintegrated into a website or a social media channel). In some cases,channels 110A-B may be modeled as applications 142A-B. A merchandisingcomponent in the commerce management engine 136 may be configured forcreating, and managing product listings (using product data objects ormodels for example) to allow merchants to describe what they want tosell and where they sell it. The association between a product listingand a channel may be modeled as a product publication and accessed bychannel applications, such as via a product listing API. A product mayhave many attributes and/or characteristics, like size and color, andmany variants that expand the available options into specificcombinations of all the attributes, like a variant that is sizeextra-small and green, or a variant that is size large and blue.Products may have at least one variant (e.g., a “default variant”)created for a product without any options. To facilitate browsing andmanagement, products may be grouped into collections, provided productidentifiers (e.g., stock keeping unit (SKU)) and the like. Collectionsof products may be built by either manually categorizing products intoone (e.g., a custom collection), by building rulesets for automaticclassification (e.g., a smart collection), and the like. Productlistings may include 2D images, 3D images or models, which may be viewedthrough a virtual or augmented reality interface, and the like.

In some embodiments, a shopping cart object is used to store or keeptrack of the products that the customer intends to buy. The shoppingcart object may be channel specific and can be composed of multiple cartline items, where each cart line item tracks the quantity for aparticular product variant. Since adding a product to a cart does notimply any commitment from the customer or the merchant, and the expectedlifespan of a cart may be in the order of minutes (not days), cartobjects/data representing a cart may be persisted to an ephemeral datastore.

The customer then proceeds to checkout. A checkout object or pagegenerated by the commerce management engine 136 may be configured toreceive customer information to complete the order such as thecustomer's contact information, billing information and/or shippingdetails. If the customer inputs their contact information but does notproceed to payment, the e-commerce platform 100 may (e.g., via anabandoned checkout component) transmit a message to the customer device150 to encourage the customer to complete the checkout. For thosereasons, checkout objects can have much longer lifespans than cartobjects (hours or even days) and may therefore be persisted. Customersthen pay for the content of their cart resulting in the creation of anorder for the merchant. In some embodiments, the commerce managementengine 136 may be configured to communicate with various paymentgateways and services 106 (e.g., online payment systems, mobile paymentsystems, digital wallets, credit card gateways) via a payment processingcomponent. The actual interactions with the payment gateways 106 may beprovided through a card server environment. At the end of the checkoutprocess, an order is created. An order is a contract of sale between themerchant and the customer where the merchant agrees to provide the goodsand services listed on the order (e.g., order line items, shipping lineitems, and the like) and the customer agrees to provide payment(including taxes). Once an order is created, an order confirmationnotification may be sent to the customer and an order placednotification sent to the merchant via a notification component.Inventory may be reserved when a payment processing job starts to avoidover-selling (e.g., merchants may control this behavior using aninventory policy or configuration for each variant). Inventoryreservation may have a short time span (minutes) and may need to be fastand scalable to support flash sales or “drops”, which are events duringwhich a discount, promotion or limited inventory of a product may beoffered for sale for buyers in a particular location and/or for aparticular (usually short) time. The reservation is released if thepayment fails. When the payment succeeds, and an order is created, thereservation is converted into a permanent (long-term) inventorycommitment allocated to a specific location. An inventory component ofthe commerce management engine 136 may record where variants arestocked, and may track quantities for variants that have inventorytracking enabled. It may decouple product variants (a customer-facingconcept representing the template of a product listing) from inventoryitems (a merchant-facing concept that represents an item whose quantityand location is managed). An inventory level component may keep track ofquantities that are available for sale, committed to an order orincoming from an inventory transfer component (e.g., from a vendor).

The merchant may then review and fulfill (or cancel) the order. A reviewcomponent of the commerce management engine 136 may implement a businessprocess merchant's use to ensure orders are suitable for fulfilmentbefore actually fulfilling them. Orders may be fraudulent, requireverification (e.g., ID checking), have a payment method which requiresthe merchant to wait to make sure they will receive their funds, and thelike. Risks and recommendations may be persisted in an order risk model.Order risks may be generated from a fraud detection tool, submitted by athird-party through an order risk API, and the like. Before proceedingto fulfilment, the merchant may need to capture the payment information(e.g., credit card information) or wait to receive it (e.g., via a banktransfer, check, and the like) before it marks the order as paid. Themerchant may now prepare the products for delivery. In some embodiments,this business process may be implemented by a fulfilment component ofthe commerce management engine 136. The fulfilment component may groupthe line items of the order into a logical fulfilment unit of work basedon an inventory location and fulfilment service. The merchant mayreview, adjust the unit of work, and trigger the relevant fulfilmentservices, such as through a manual fulfilment service (e.g., at merchantmanaged locations) used when the merchant picks and packs the productsin a box, purchase a shipping label and input its tracking number, orjust mark the item as fulfilled. Alternatively, an API fulfilmentservice may trigger a third-party application or service to create afulfilment record for a third-party fulfilment service. Otherpossibilities exist for fulfilling an order. If the customer is notsatisfied, they may be able to return the product(s) to the merchant.The business process merchants may go through to “un-sell” an item maybe implemented by a return component. Returns may consist of a varietyof different actions, such as a restock, where the product that was soldactually comes back into the business and is sellable again; a refund,where the money that was collected from the customer is partially orfully returned; an accounting adjustment noting how much money wasrefunded (e.g., including if there was any restocking fees or goods thatweren't returned and remain in the customer's hands); and the like. Areturn may represent a change to the contract of sale (e.g., the order),and where the e-commerce platform 100 may make the merchant aware ofcompliance issues with respect to legal obligations (e.g., with respectto taxes). In some embodiments, the e-commerce platform 100 may enablemerchants to keep track of changes to the contract of sales over time,such as implemented through a sales model component (e.g., anappend-only date-based ledger that records sale-related events thathappened to an item).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example hardware configuration of thee-commerce platform 100 in communication with a third-party serviceprovider 450 via a remote third-party server 460 (discussed furtherbelow) for implementing a checkout component.

It should be noted that different components of the e-commerce platform100 (e.g., the data facility 134, analytics 132, commerce managementengine 136 and applications 142A-B) may be implemented in separatehardware or software components, on a common hardware component orserver or configured as a common (integrated) service or engine in thee-commerce platform 100. In the example of FIG. 4 , the e-commerceplatform 100 includes a core server 410, a data server 420 and anapplications server 430, which are each in communication with each other(e.g., via wired connections and/or via wireless intranet connections).Each of the servers 410, 420, 430 include a respective processing device412, 422, 432 (each of which may be, for example, a microprocessor,graphical processing unit, digital signal processor or othercomputational element), a respective memory 414, 424, 434 (each of whichmay be, for example, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),hard disk, optical disc, subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memorystick, secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like, and may includetangible or transient memory), and a respective communications interface416, 426, 436 (each of which may include transmitter, receiver and/ortransceiver for wired and/or wireless communications). The core server410 may store instructions and perform operations relevant to corecapabilities of the e-commerce platform, such as providing theadministrator 114, analytics 132, core commerce facility 136, services116 and/or financial facility 130, among others. The data server 420 maybe used to implement the data facility 134, among others. Theapplications server 430 may store instructions and perform operationsrelevant to the applications 142, such as storing instructions and datafor the applications 142 and for implementing application developmentsupport 128.

Merchants and customers, using respective devices 102, 150, 152 mayaccess the e-commerce platform 100 via one or more networks 440 (e.g.,wired and/or wireless networks, including a virtual private network(VPN), the Internet, and the like).

As noted above, during a checkout transaction, a customer may beprovided with selectable options for different categories of thetransaction, such as selecting a shipping option, selecting a paymentplan, applying a rewards discount, among other possibilities. Many ofthese services may be delivered by a third-party service provider 450and, thus, require external calls (such as API calls) out to theexternal third-party server 460 of the third-party service provider 450.Such external calls at checkout typically require a round-triprequest-and-response. They may be made directly to third-party serviceprovider 450, or through a third party application that the merchant mayhave installed in their online store to manage checkout options. Thethird-party application is often hosted at third-party server 460 thatis located at a remote and/or geographically-disparate location fromservers 410, 420, 430.

Although FIG. 4 illustrates an example hardware implementation of thee-commerce platform 100, it should be understood that otherimplementations may be possible. For example, there may be greater orfewer numbers of servers, the e-commerce platform 100 may be implementedin a distributed manner, or at least some of the memories 414, 424, 434may be replaced with external storage or cloud-based storage, amongother possible modifications.

FIG. 5 is another depiction of the e-commerce platform 100 that omitssome details that have been described with reference to FIG. 1 , andshows further details discussed below. In particular, FIG. 5 illustratessome example details of the e-commerce platform 100 that are relevant toproviding progressive loading of checkout options and enablingcompletion of the checkout process even when some/all of the checkoutoptions, from third-party service providers for example, have not yetloaded.

FIG. 5 illustrates a single instance of an online store 138 forsimplicity. However, it should be understood that there may be multipleonline stores 138 on the e-commerce platform 100, each with a checkouttransaction process. The checkout transaction process of online store138 is associated with transaction inputs 312 and one or more optionscategories 314.

Each options category 314 may be related to an aspect or category of thecheckout transaction that can only be determined or populated at thetime of checkout, i.e., they cannot be preloaded. For example, optionscategory 314 may relate to shipping, payment instalments, discounts, areward system, subscriptions, customs and duties, among otherpossibilities. In that regard, each of the options categories 314 haveassociated with it a set of checkout options 316 that the user may ormust select as part of the checkout process, in order to complete thetransaction. Checkout options 316 cannot be preloaded because thecheckout options require customer-specific and/or purchase-specificinformation before they can be determined.

The customer-specific and purchase-specific information make uptransaction inputs 312. For example, if the options category relates toshipping, the customer-specific input may be a shipping address, and thepurchase-specific input may be the value of the customer's cart, and thesize and weight of the package. If the options category 314 relates to amembership rewards program, the customer-specific input may be thecustomer's membership number, and the purchase-specific input may be thecategory of items in the customer's cart (Le. a rewards item or aregular item).

The e-commerce platform 100 further includes a checkout options manager350 in communication with the online store 138. Generally, if a checkouttransaction involves an options categories 314, selection of one of thecheckout options 316 under that options category 314 is required tocomplete that checkout transaction. Thus, as described in further detailbelow, the checkout options manager 350 is configured to identify and/ordetermine which of a collection of checkout options (for a given optionscategory 314) belong at least to a first set/segment/group of checkoutoptions, and which of the collection of checkout options belong at leastto a second set/segment/group of checkout options. The checkout optionsmanager 350 is then configured to update a checkout UI, which iscommunicated to cause the user device 150 to display or provide thefirst and second sets of checkout options differently to the user, suchas at different times (i.e. progressively).

For example, the first set may be checkout options that are able to loadquickly enough to be shown immediately, or with a short defined delay,to the customer (such as flat rates via local database lookup), and thesecond set may be checkout options are slower to load/too slow toqualify under the first set (such as API calls to third parties fordynamic shipping rates). The second set of checkout options may be delayloaded. For example, the second group of (slower) checkout options canbe hidden from display, and may only be displayed after the customerselects a selectable user interface element (e.g. an expander orspinner) in the checkout UI. However, checkout options manager 350enables the e-commerce platform 100 to complete the checkout transactionusing one of the first group of (faster) checkout options, even when thesecond group of (slower) checkout options have not loaded (and thus notdisplayed and not available for selection in the checkout UI). In thatmanner, the checkout options manager 350 allows the e-commerce platform100 to complete the checkout process even when all of the checkoutoptions 316 (such as from third-party service providers 350) have notyet been received from third-party servers or displayed on the customerdevice 150.

An example checkout transaction using checkout options manager 350 isnow described. Checkout options manager 350 is initially activated by atrigger event, which is typically a customer input entered in/at thecustomer device 150 and communicated over a network to the e-commerceplatform 100. The trigger event may be receiving a shipping addressduring the checkout process, initialization of the checkout userinterface, or the customer's selection on the user interface to enable acertain category of options, among other possibilities.

After the trigger event is detected, checkout options manager 350automatically makes queries to populate the checkout options 316 foreach of the options categories 314 involved. For example, in the casewhen the options category 314 is related to shipping, the trigger eventmay be receiving the customer's shipping address. The shipping raterequests/queries are then automatically dispatched by checkout optionsmanager 350 based on the transaction inputs 312 (e.g. the value of thecart, the location of the shipping address, and the size and weight ofthe package, etc.)

As noted above, the checkout options 316 are dependent on suchcustomer-specific and purchase-specific information and, therefore,cannot be determined ahead of time. The options category 314 may relateto one or more of shipping, payment instalments, discounts, a rewardsystem, subscriptions, customs and duties, among other possibilities.

Checkout options manager 350 may be configured to dispatch therequests/queries to local and remote sources. For example, checkoutoptions manager 350 may query the local data facility 134/analytics 132and query remote third-party service providers 450 (optionally throughthe third-party server 460) for the checkout options 316.

For local queries, the checkout options manager 350 may have access toinformation from the analytics 132 and data facility 134 of thee-commerce platform 100. The analytics 132 and data facility 134 mayinclude, for example, databases with static rates or checkout optionsfor options categories that do not change over time. For the optionscategory related to shipping, the database could contain flat shippingrates or free shipping checkout options that are conditional uponcertain purchase requirements being met, for example.

The analytics 132 and data facility 134 may also include informationabout customers (e.g., stored in customer profiles), information aboutcustomers' purchase habits (e.g., purchase information aggregated bycustomer group, aggregated by time period, etc.), information aboutcustomers' browsing habits (e.g., browsing information aggregated bycustomer group, aggregated by time period, etc.), information aboutsales (e.g., sales information aggregated by product category,aggregated by time period, aggregated by geography, etc.), among others.Information about customers may be used to define customer groups. Forexample, a customer group may be defined by a common characteristic suchas a common gender, a common age group, a common geographic area, acommon living arrangement, a common purchase history, a common browsinghistory, a common interest (whether explicitly indicated in a customerprofile or implicitly indicated in purchase or browsing history), andcombinations thereof, among other possibilities. Of course, it isrecognized that such databases may be stored remotely rather thanlocally from e-commerce platform 100.

For external queries to third-party service providers 450, responses tosuch queries typically require a round-trip, request-and-response froman application hosted at the remote third-party server 460. An examplein the shipping scenario is an API call to a shipping carrier fordynamic shipping rates. The external queries could also be made directlyto third-party service providers 450. As noted above, the speed of suchexternal calls may be dependent on the level of technologyinfrastructure, server speeds, and network connection speeds provided bythe third parties and/or the connectivity providers. Thus, delays insuch external calls may be largely caused by delays in the third-partyservice providers themselves.

Typically, in existing conventional online checkouts, after responses toall of the requests/queries are received, the full set of checkoutoptions from both local and external queries are simultaneouslydisplayed to the customer on the user interface in a dropdown menu orother form of list (e.g. a set of radio buttons, or a sequence ofcards/sections). However, in the present disclosure, checkout optionsmanager 350 is configured to instruct the user interface on the customerdevice 150 to display each of the checkout options 316 depending onwhether they are identified or determined to be in the first set (e.g.quick-loading set) or the second set (e.g. slow-loading set) of checkoutoptions.

To that end, checkout options manager 350 is configured to identifyand/or dynamically determine whether each checkout option 316 shouldbelong to the first set of options or to the second set of options basedon the response time of the queries, using a loading speed computationmodule 352. In some examples, the first set of options may be“quick-loading” options and the second set of options may be“slow-loading” or “delay loaded” options. It is understood that theexpressions “quick-loading options” and “slow-loading options” arerelative terms, where a checkout option 316 may be identified as“quick-loading” when it loads (i.e. a response to the query is received)within a predefined time threshold, or faster than another checkoutoption 316 that loads slower or is delay loaded, as discussed furtherbelow.

Loading computation module 352 identifies or determines whether eachcheckout option 316 is part of the first set of options (e.g.“quick-loading”) or part of the second set of options (e.g.“slow-loading” or “delay loaded”) based on one or more loading metrics354. These loading metrics 354 are hard or dynamic rules applied to thequeries by loading computation module 352 to determine whether eachcheckout option 316 belongs in the first set of options or the secondset of options (such as “quick-loading” or “slow-loading” checkoutoptions). The metrics may be: a static threshold cut-off time (e.g.response time of the query must be under 500 ms in order to be includedin the first set of options), empirical measurements (e.g. the cut-offtime is set based on historical or recent response times of similarqueries), statistical analysis of the empirical measurements (e.g., thecut-off time is set based on a cut-off point in a distribution such as,for example, the one or two response times where the response times aresubstantially normally distributed), analysis of the loading calls (e.g.whether the queries are conducted using first party calls, third partycalls, or database lookups), network analysis (e.g. the cut-off time isset based on current or predicted load on first or third party networks,or customer networks), heuristics based on domain knowledge (e.g. allflat-rates are included in the first set of options, while all dynamicrates are included in the second set of options), and customerconfigurations (e.g. the merchant themselves or the e-commerce platform100 indicates to the checkout options manager 350 which rates belong tothe first set of options and which rates belong to the second set ofoptions). Notably, the loading metrics 354 may include rules that aredynamically variable dependent on the status of computing resources atthe e-commerce platform 100. For example, if there is currently a highusage of computing resources or network resources (e.g. high usage ofnetwork bandwidth, high network congestion, high usage of memoryresources, etc.) the threshold cut-off time may be dynamically lowered(e.g. only responses that arrive within 300 ms are included in the firstset of options) to reduce further usage of computing/network resources.Thus, the options that are delay loaded may change; the options thatbelong to the first set and the options that belong to the second setare not necessarily fixed.

In some examples, the e-commerce platform 100 may have information aheadof time about the relative speeds of various third-party serviceproviders' APIs (e.g. based on historical measurements). Then based onthe service providers for the checkout options 316 (which may beselected by a merchant), checkout options manager 350 can define thecut-off time (e.g., based on a statistical analysis of the relativespeeds of the selected providers).

The data and information used by the loading computation module 352,such as the empirical measurements, historical or recent response timesof similar queries, usage of computing/network resources, relativespeeds of the selected providers etc., may be stored in a dedicatedmemory 356, and/or in data facility 134.

When the first set of options have been identified by the checkoutoptions manager 350, the checkout options manager 350 is configured tosend an indication to the remote client device 150 to update the userinterface to automatically display (either immediately after the triggerevent, or with a short fixed delay) at least one option from the firstset of options. The first set of options may be identified by thecheckout options manager 350 following receipt of a reply to one or moreof the requests/queries associated with the first set of options.Notably, this display of at least one of the first set of options occursprior to display of any of the options from the second set of options.

The checkout options manager 350 is further configured to send anindication to the remote client device 150 to update the user interfaceto automatically display a selectable user interface element (such as anexpander icon or chevron symbol) with the at least one option from thefirst set of options. Any or all of the options from the second set ofoptions may be delay loaded, and are hidden from display on the clientdevice 150 prior to selection of the selectable user interface element.

In some examples, checkout options manager 350 may be configured to sendan indication to the remote client device 150 to update the userinterface to automatically display all options from the first set ofoptions at once. For example, all fixed-rate shipping options may bedisplayed at the same time on the checkout page as the first set ofoptions (e.g. replacing a skeleton UI element), where each fixed-rateoption from the first set of options is displayed with a radio buttonfor the customer to select. If all of the options from the first set ofoptions do not load at the same time, waiting for all of the first setof options to load may delay display of the page, or a section of thepage, for a short period of time before rendering. In other words,loading of other UI elements (such as page load, section load) may beobscured (i.e., not displayed) for the customer until all of the firstset of options are loaded.

In cases where more than one option of the first set of options arefirst made visible to the customer on customer device 150, checkoutoptions manager 350 may be further configured to rank the options in thefirst set of options based on a checkout criterion or a preselectedorder for display on customer device 150. For example, the preselectedorder may be a ranking based on price, with the cheapest option beingdisplayed at the top of the list. When the options category 314 isshipping, the options in the first set of options may alternatively beranked and displayed based on the delivery times, or the merchant'spredetermined preferred shipping carrier. Other ranking systems includeranking based on the call speeds, customer's specific historicalpreferences, likelihood of use, overall popularity, or having the bestinterest rates, among other possibilities. Such ranking could alsodepend on a combination of factors (e.g., primary sort order, secondarysort order, etc.)

In other examples, checkout options manager 350 may be configured tosend an indication to the remote client device 150 to update the userinterface to automatically display only one option from the first set ofoptions on customer device 150. For example, if checkout options manager350 identifies three checkout options to be available from the first setof options, the cheapest checkout option may be shown as the selected(visible) default option in the dropdown. The other two checkout optionsmay not be visible within the dropdown until the selectable userinterface element (e.g. dropdown/expander button) is selected orclicked-on by the customer at the client device 150. At that point, thetwo additional checkout options from the first set of options would bemade visible, but with no loading indicator, since they are alreadyloaded.

The display of at least one option from the first set of options occursprior to display of any options from the second set of options.Moreover, display of at least one option from the first set of optionsmay occur prior to checkout options manager 350 even having receivedreplies/answers to one or more of the queries for the second set ofoptions.

As noted above, conventional online checkout transactions typicallypresent the customer with a loading cursor on the user interface toindicate that options are pending during a checkout transaction. At sucha time, the customer encounters a delay because the transaction cannotbe completed until all of the checkout options are loaded. Customers arealso inclined to wait when they see a loading cursor, perceiving thatthe page has not fully loaded and that the checkout transaction cannotproceed yet. Customers are also inclined to wait because they wish tosee the additional pending options that are indicated to be displayed.

To that end, checkout options manager 350 is configured to immediately(or with a short fixed delay) provide the customer with at least one ofthe first set of options (such as one of the quick-loading options)displayed on the user interface with a selectable user interface element(such as an expander), but without providing or displaying a loadingcursor or any of the second set of options (such as the slow-loading ordelay loaded options). Checkout options manager 350 is furtherconfigured to send an indication to the remote client device 150 to hidethe loading cursor and the second set of options (such as theslow-loading or delay loaded options) behind the expander on the userinterface.

While the checkout transaction may be completed with any one of thefirst set of options (such with as any one of the quick-loadingoptions), the at least one of the of the first set of options that ismade visible to the customer on the client device 150 may bepre-selected as a default option without requiring any further customerinteraction.

In cases where more than one option from the first set of options aremade visible to the customer on customer device 150, checkout optionsmanager 350 may automatically assign one option of the first set ofoptions to be the default option. For example, if the first set ofoptions have been ranked based on price, the cheapest option displayedat the top of the list may be selected as the default option. In caseswhere only one option of the first set of options is made visible to thecustomer on customer device 150, checkout options manager 350 mayautomatically assign the one displayed option from the first set ofoptions to be the default option without requiring any further customerinteraction.

In cases where multiple options in the first set of checkout options aredisplayed, it may take some time for the customer to compare all of thefeatures of the multiple options. Thus for multiple options, checkoutoptions manager 350 may further be optionally configured toidentify/determine which of the loaded options from the first set ofoptions is the cheapest, has the fastest delivery time, or is the mostpopular, among other factors, and automatically highlight that option onthe list. The option may be highlighted with a different font orbackground colour, or labelled/badged as “Fastest”, “Cheapest”, “MostPopular” etc.

The present checkout options manager 350 is configured to allow/enablecompletion of the checkout transaction using one of the options from thefirst set of checkout options, even when it has not received responsesfrom respective queries for any or all of the second set of options.Thus, checkout options manager 350 enables completion of the checkouttransaction using the at least one of the options from the first set ofoptions (such as the quick-loading options) displayed on the userinterface, by sending an indication to the client device 150 that thecustomer can proceed with the checkout transaction (e.g. enabling thecustomer to select an option to complete the checkout), even when thesecond set of options (such as the slow-loading options) have notloaded.

After the second set of options have been identified by checkout optionsmanager 350 based on the queries, the loading of the second set ofoptions is hidden on the user interface. If the second set of optionsare still loading, checkout options manager 350 is configured to updatethe checkout user interface to display a loading indicator (e.g. theloading cursor/spinner) only when the customer selects the selectableuser interface element (e.g. an expander button or a chevron) on thecheckout user interface.

Regardless of whether the user interface element is selected by thecustomer or not, the checkout options manager 350 makes queries for thesecond set of options at the same time as the queries are made for thefirst set of options. In this manner, no indication of loading isimmediately visible to the customer on the checkout user interface. Theuser interface element may be an expander for a dropdown menu, or anexpandable section (e.g. selectable with a chevron), among otherpossible user interface options.

If the user interface element is selected, and the second set of optionsare still loading (i.e. not all responses for the second set of optionshave been received), the customer is shown a loading cursor (such as thespinner) on the user interface until all of the options in the secondset of options become available. At that point, the checkout optionsmanager 350 is configured to send an update to the client device 150 toupdate the user interface by replacing the spinner with the now-loadedsecond set of options. For example, if the dynamic shipping rates aredetermined to be options in the second set of options (such as slow-loadoptions), the customer will only ever see the dynamic shipping rates ifthey interact with the user interface element.

If the user interface element is selected by the customer after a periodof time, and the second set of options have already been loaded (i.e.all responses for the second set of options have been received), thecheckout options manager 350 may be configured to send an update to theclient device 150 to update the user interface to display all of thesecond set of options without the loading cursor/spinner.

Alternatively, the checkout options manager 350 may be configured tosend an update to the client device 150 to update the user interface toautomatically replace the user interface element on the checkout pagewith the second set of options themselves after they have loaded. Forexample, if the customer waits to click on the user interface element,and the second set of options have now all loaded, the second set ofoptions may immediately and automatically be displayed as additionalradio buttons in the shipping option list and the user interface elementwould no longer be displayed.

If there are multiple options in the second set of options, once loaded,the checkout options manager 350 may also be configured to rank theloaded multiple options in the second set of options and send an updateto the client device 150 to update the user interface to display thesecond set of options based on price, delivery times, historicalcustomer preference, or predefined merchant preferences, likelihood ofuse, among other possibilities.

In some examples, once the second set of checkout options are loaded,their corresponding features (such as prices and delivery times) may bemore preferred (i.e. lower or faster) than the displayed first set ofcheckout options. In such cases, all of the checkout options may beautomatically rearranged/re-ranked such that the newest cheapest (orfastest or most merchant preferred or fulfilment network preferred etc.)option is displayed first in the list of checkout options.Alternatively, if the checkout options are “badged” as described above,rather than rearranging the entire list, just the badges or highlightingcan be moved to the newest cheapest/fastest checkout option.

In other examples, if the customer does not selects/clicks-on the userinterface element, even if one option of the second set of options turnsout to be more preferable than the displayed first set of checkoutoptions, the more preferable option in the second set of options may notbe displayed in the user interface.

Optionally then, checkout options manager 350 may also be configured tosend an update to the client device 150 to update the user interface toprovide a notification to the customer of a new more preferable checkoutoption, whether or not the customer has selected the user interfaceelement to view the additional checkout options.

Thus far, the checkout options manager 350 has been described as beingconfigured to identify and update the user interface to display thecheckout options in two batches/sets, such as quick-load options andslow-load or delay loaded options. However, checkout options manager 350may optionally be configured to segment the checkout options into morethan two sets/batches, such three sets (e.g. as a quick-load batch, afaster slow-load batch, and a slower slow-load batch). For example, thefirst (such as quick-load) set/batch may be made immediately availablefor display, the second (such as faster slow-load) set/batch may be madeavailable for display after a first amount of time, and the third (suchas slower slow-load) set/batch may be made available for display after asecond amount of time, where the second amount of time is greater thanthe first amount of time.

For example, in response to selection of the user interface element, thecheckout options manager 350 may send an update to the client device 150to update the user interface to display any remaining options from thefirst set of options and display the second set of options afterreceiving responses from respective queries for the second set ofoptions, prior to displaying the third set of options. The checkoutoptions manager 350 may further send an update to the client device 150to update the user interface to display a loading indicator for thethird set of options when responses from the respective queries have notall been received or display the third set of options for whichresponses from the respective queries have all been received.

In another example, the first amount of time may be the amount of timethe customer takes to select the user interface element. In such a case,if the user interface element is selected, any options that have beenloaded are displayed as options in the second set of options (such asfaster slow-load options). The options that are still loading may beconsidered options in the third set of options (such as slower slow-loadoptions), and the customer may be shown the second set of options(faster slow-load options) and a loading cursor (such as the spinner)until the third set of options (slower slow-loading options) becomeavailable. At that point, the spinner may be replaced with the third setof options.

FIG. 6 is a signalling diagram illustrating example communicationsbetween a conventional e-commerce platform 600 with a local database634, a customer device 150, and a third-party service provider 450.Following notification 604 of a trigger event 602 or request(s) from thecustomer device, the conventional e-commerce platform 600 typicallysends queries to internal databases 606 and/or to remote third-partyservice providers 608 for checkout options. After answers (includinglocal response 610 and external response 612) to all of therequests/queries are received, the full set of checkout options fromboth local and external queries may be collated 614 and sent 616 to thecustomer device 150 for simultaneous display on the user interface.After the customer selects 618 one of the checkout options at thecustomer device 150, the conventional e-commerce platform 600 proceedswith the checkout transaction via the user interface on the customerdevice 620, and the transaction is completed. As noted above, however,waiting for responses to all of the requests/queries before enablingcompletion of the checkout transaction can result in customer confusion,undesirable delay to completion of the checkout transaction, and a wasteof computer resources to load unnecessary checkout options.

Thus, FIG. 7 is a signalling diagram illustrating example communicationsbetween the checkout options manager 350, customer device 150, andthird-party service provider 450, in accordance with examples of thepresent disclosure. The checkout options manager 350 may be implementedon the e-commerce platform 100 (e.g., in a server of the e-commerceplatform 100), or outside of the e-commerce platform 100 (e.g., in athird-party server, in the customer device 150, or in the merchantdevice 102), or a combination thereof. For example, the checkout optionsmanager 350 may be implemented by an online checkout service, which maynot be part of the e-commerce platform 100. The following discussion isin the context of an example in which the checkout options manager 350is implemented in a server of the e-commerce platform 100.

At 702, a trigger event is entered or detected at the customer device150. For example, a shipping address may be entered by the customer atthe customer device 150. Once the trigger event is detected, anotification is automatically sent by customer device 150 to thecheckout options manager 350 at 704.

In response to the trigger event notification, the checkout optionsmanager 350 dispatches all queries to populate the checkout options.Such queries include both local queries for checkout options at 706 (forexample, requests to internal databases stored in data facility 134 ofe-commerce platform 100), and external queries for checkout options at708 (for example, requests to third-party service provides 450,optionally via the third-party's server 460).

At 710, the local data facility 134 responds to its request with locallysourced checkout options. At 712 then, checkout options manager 350 mayidentify the local responses to be part of a first or second set ofcheckout options (such as quick-load or slow-load responses). In somescenarios, because the local response at 710 is internal to e-commerceplatform 100, the local response(s) may be provided to checkout optionsmanager 350 immediately or with very little delay. In such a case, afterapplying loading metrics 354, checkout options manager 350 may identifyone or more of the local response(s) as a first set of options (such asquick-loading options).

At 714, having identified at least one option of the first set ofoptions, the checkout options manager 350 then immediately sends asignal to the customer device 150 to display the at least one option ofthe first set of checkout options. With the at least one of the firstset of options displayed, the customer device 150 may automaticallyselect one of the first set of options as a default option at 716. Inany case, checkout options manager 350 can proceed with the checkoutprocess at 718 with just the option from the first set of options (suchas one of the quick-loading options).

In contrast to the conventional signalling diagram of FIG. 6 ,completion of the checkout process at 718 can proceed without checkoutoptions manager 350 receiving external response(s) from the third-partyservice providers 450 at 720, and/or without the second set of optionsbeing displayed at the customer device 150 at 722. Of course, in anotherexample, the checkout process at 718 can also occur after checkoutoptions manager 350 receives external response(s) from the third-partyservice providers 450 at 720 (thus providing time for delayed loading ofthe second set of options), and after the second set of options aredisplayed at the customer device 150 at 722.

FIG. 7 illustrates a signalling example where the local responses aredetermined by checkout options manager 350 to be the first set ofoptions, while the external responses are determined to be the secondset of options. However, the skilled person would understand that, inapplying loading metrics 354 (discussed above), checkout options manager350 could identify certain external responses to relate to options inthe first set of options and identify certain local responses to relateto options in the second set of options instead. The notable feature ischeckout options manager 350's ability to identify/determine whichcheckout options belong in the first set of options (such asquick-loading options) and which belong in the second set of options(such as slow-loading options), causing display of only at least one ofthe first set of checkout options first, and subsequently causingdisplay of the second set of checkout options (e.g. after delayedloading and/or if requested by the customer), and yet enablingcompletion of the transaction without the second set of options beingdisplayed or loaded.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 800 for completinga checkout transaction without all checkout options available. Theexample method 800 may be performed by the e-commerce platform 100 usingthe checkout options manager 350, for example. In particular, the method800 may be performed in real-time (or near real-time) during atransaction process at a given online store 138 by a given customer.

At an operation 802, the checkout options manager 350 provides acheckout user interface to a remote client device 150 via a network 440for completing a checkout transaction. The user interface includes atleast one options category 314 which is associated with the checkouttransaction. The options category 314 has an associated set of checkoutoptions 316.

As noted above, each options category 314 may be related to an aspect orcategory of the checkout transaction that can only be determined orpopulated at the time of checkout, i.e., they cannot be preloaded. Forexample, options category 314 may relate to shipping, paymentinstalments, discounts, a reward system, subscriptions, customs andduties, among other possibilities. In that regard, each of the optionscategories 314 has associated with it a set of checkout options 316 thatthe user may or must select as part of the checkout process, in order tocomplete the transaction. Checkout options 316 cannot be preloadedbecause the checkout options require customer-specific and/orpurchase-specific information before they can be determined.

Optionally at an operation 804, a trigger event is detected by thecheckout options manager 350. Such a trigger event could be receipt ofcustomer-specific information from the client device 150, such asreceipt of a shipping address (e.g. inputted by a customer into thecheckout user interface via the client device 150). The trigger eventmay alternately be detection that the user interface has beeninitialized at the client device 150, or receipt from the client device150of an indication of a selection on the user interface to enable acertain category of options, among other possibilities.

At an operation 806, requests or queries associated with the checkoutoptions 316 are transmitted. At least one of the transmitted queries istransmitted (e.g., via the network 440) to a remote third-party server460, where selection of one of the checkout options 316 is required tocomplete the checkout transaction.

At an operation 808, one or more of the checkout options 316 areidentified as belonging to a first set of options (such as quick-loadingoptions) and others of the checkout options 316 as belonging to a secondset of options (such as slow-loading options). The checkout options 316may be determined to belong to the first or second set of checkoutoptions (such as quick-loading or slow-loading) based on a variety ofdifferent loading metrics 354. Examples of loading metrics 354 include athreshold cut-off time for receiving a response, historical measurementsfor receiving a response from similar queries, analysis of networkcommunications and/or fulfilment network configurations related to eachquery, a merchant's configuration, dynamic cut-off time dependent oncurrent usage of computer/network resources, among other possibilities.For example, when the loading metric 354 used is based on a thresholdcut-off time for receiving a response, all responses received within 500ms may be considered quick-loading, while all responses received after500 ms may be considered slow-loading. Alternatively, the thresholdcut-off time may be based on the corresponding customer's historicalresponse times.

Thus, at an operation 810, an update to the user interface iscommunicated to the remote client device 150 to display at least oneoption of the first set of options after receipt of a reply to one ormore of the requests, but prior to display of any of the second set ofoptions. In that regard, the user interface is updated such that onlyone or more options from the first set of options are displayed.

At this point, the at least one option of the first set of optionsdisplayed may be automatically selected as a default option on the userinterface.

At an operation 812, an update to the user interface is alsocommunicated to the remote client device 150 to display a selectableuser interface element, where all of the second set of options arehidden from display prior to selection of the selectable user interfaceelement.

For example, in cases where the selectable user interface element hasbeen selected at the remote client device 150, but the options in thesecond set of options have not yet loaded, the user interface may beupdated to display any remaining options from the first set of options,and to display a loading indicator for the second set of options whenresponses from the respective queries have not all been received.

Optionally, at an operation 814, in cases where the second set ofoptions have loaded (e.g., after a delay), the user interface may befurther updated to display the second set of options after furtherreceipt of replies to one or more of the respective requests.

However, regardless of whether the second set of options (e.g., delayloaded options) are displayed, at an operation 816, the checkouttransaction is complete-able using one option of the first set ofoptions (such as one of the quick-loading options) displayed on the userinterface. The checkout transaction may be completed prior to receivingresponses from respective queries for any or all of the second set ofoptions (such as the slow-loading options). If a default option has beenselected, in response to selection of the option to complete thecheckout transaction, the checkout transaction may be completed usingthe default option without further interaction from the customer.

The above transaction process/method 800 may be implemented one-commerce platform 100 and presented to the customer as a sequence ofpages that the customer may navigate through. An example sequence ofpages is illustrated in FIGS. 9A-9D.

FIG. 9A shows a checkout user interface 900 displayed on a remote clientdevice 150. The user interface 900 includes at least one optionscategory 314 which is associated with the checkout transaction. In theshown embodiment, the options category 314 is shipping, identified with“Delivery” 902, and is associated with a set of checkout options 316that are shipping options 904 (which have yet to be filled in in FIG.9A). As shown in the present embodiment, the checkout user interface 900has received the shipping address, also identified as the trigger event.At this point, since a shipping option 904 for shipping category 902 hasnot yet been provided or selected, the “Continue” button 906 is inactive(e.g. grayed-out). In other words, the checkout transaction cannot becompleted yet.

Upon detection of the trigger event (i.e. input of the shippingaddress), the checkout options manager 350 sends out shipping queries,where at least one of the shipping queries is sent to a third-partyshipping carrier. In the present case, one of the shipping queries isalso dispatched locally. The checkout options manager 350 identifies oneof the shipping options as belonging to the first set of shippingoptions (such as quick-loading options), in this case, a flat-rateshipping option 904 that was determined based on a local databaselookup. Thus, as shown in FIG. 9B, this flat-rate shipping option 904 isdisplayed immediately on the checkout user interface 900 with anexpander/chevron 908 (i.e. a selectable user interface element). Theflat-rate shipping option has also been automatically selected as thedefault option. Notably, any/all of the shipping options belonging tothe second set of shipping options (such as slow-loading or delay loadedoptions) are initially hidden from display. Also notable is the factthat the “Continue” button 906 is now active (e.g. visually highlightedin a different color, as indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 9B) and thecheckout transaction can be completed with the default flat-rateshipping option 904, even if the customer never selects the expander,and even if the second set of options have not loaded.

In other words, a customer may proceed through the checkout process with“incomplete” information (i.e. without loading information for allavailable options), since the transaction can be finished without theslow-to-fetch data options.

FIG. 9C illustrates an example when the expander/chevron is selected bythe customer, but the second set of options have not yet loaded. In sucha case, a spinner/loading cursor 910 is shown, indicating that thesecond set of options are still being loaded. As noted above, the“Continue” button 906 in FIG. 9C is still active and the checkouttransaction can still be completed with the flat-rate shipping option904, even though the second set of shipping options have not yet loaded.

FIG. 9D further illustrates when the second set of shipping options(such as slow-loading or delay loaded options) have loaded. In such acase, a spinner/loading cursor 910 is replaced with a slow-loadingshipping option 912. The customer now has the option of completing thetransaction with either the option from the first set of options (suchas the quick-loading flat-rate shipping option 904) or the slow-loadingexpedited shipping option 912 from the second set of options. However,all this time, the customer could have completed the transaction withoutbeing provided with the second set of options.

It bears noting that all queries to populate all of the checkout options(including the second set of/slow-loading/delay loaded checkout optionsand the first set of/checkout options, for example) are dispatched atthe same time once the trigger event occurs, not when theexpander/chevron is selected. Thus, the customer's interaction with theexpander only appears to invoke calls to the second set of checkoutoptions. However, as described above, those queries have already beendispatched at the earlier detection of the trigger event.

The customer's ability to complete the transaction using the(quick-loading) default option from the first set of options, even whensome or all of the second set of options are not yet loaded oravailable, improves computer efficiency. The processing power, memorystorage, and bandwidth that would otherwise be used to receive theresponse from the third-party calls, and to load and display all of thesecond set of checkout options on the checkout user interface, can nowbe used for other purposes. Thus, computer resources can be savedwithout hindering completion of the customer's checkout transaction.

As noted above, typical checkout user interfaces usually prevent thecustomer from completing a checkout transaction until all checkoutoptions have been loaded and made available for selecting. According tothe present disclosure, presenting the customer with at least one optionfrom the first set of checkout options (such as one quick-load option)for each option category, allows the customer to finish the transactioneven if some or all of the responses related to the options in thesecond set of options (such as the slow-load or delay loaded options)have not yet been received/loaded and displayed on the checkout userinterface.

Further, from a customer-benefit perspective, the customer does not needto wait, nor would they be inclined to wait, for the second set ofoptions (such as slow-loading or delay loaded checkout options) to loadbefore proceeding, since the loading cursor is not initially presentedto the customer. In this manner, the transaction may be simplified andcompleted more quickly, with fewer delays. As well, resources that havebeen reserved for the checkout transaction may be more quickly freed upfor other purposes.

Although the present disclosure describes methods and processes withoperations (e.g., steps) in a certain order, one or more operations ofthe methods and processes may be omitted or altered as appropriate. Oneor more operations may take place in an order other than that in whichthey are described, as appropriate.

Although the present disclosure is described, at least in part, in termsof methods, a person of ordinary skill in the art will understand thatthe present disclosure is also directed to the various components forperforming at least some of the aspects and features of the describedmethods, be it by way of hardware components, software or anycombination of the two. Accordingly, the technical solution of thepresent disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product. Asuitable software product may be stored in a pre-recorded storage deviceor other similar non-volatile or non-transitory computer readablemedium, including DVDs, CD-ROMs, USB flash disk, a removable hard disk,or other storage media, for example. The software product includesinstructions tangibly stored thereon that enable a processing device(e.g., a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to executeexamples of the methods disclosed herein.

The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the subject matter of the claims. The described exampleembodiments are to be considered in all respects as being onlyillustrative and not restrictive. Selected features from one or more ofthe above-described embodiments may be combined to create alternativeembodiments not explicitly described, features suitable for suchcombinations being understood within the scope of this disclosure.

All values and sub-ranges within disclosed ranges are also disclosed.Also, although the systems, devices and processes disclosed and shownherein may comprise a specific number of elements/components, thesystems, devices and assemblies could be modified to include additionalor fewer of such elements/components. For example, although any of theelements/components disclosed may be referenced as being singular, theembodiments disclosed herein could be modified to include a plurality ofsuch elements/components. The subject matter described herein intends tocover and embrace all suitable changes in technology.

1. A checkout management system comprising: at least one processor andat least one memory, the at least one memory storing instructionsexecutable by the at least one processor to cause the checkoutmanagement system to: provide, to a remote client device via a network,a user interface for completing a checkout transaction, the userinterface including an options category associated with the checkouttransaction, the options category to be populated by an associated setof two or more checkout options during the checkout transaction;transmit, via the network, requests to obtain respective ones of thecheckout options for populating the options category, at least one ofthe transmitted requests being transmitted to a remote third-partyserver of a service provider providing at least one of the checkoutoptions; identify a subset of the checkout options as a first set ofcheckout options and one or more others of the checkout options as asecond set of checkout options; cause an update of the user interface atthe remote client device to populate the options category by displayingat least one of the checkout options from the first set of checkoutoptions as a selectable checkout option after receipt of a reply to oneor more of the requests and prior to display of the second set ofcheckout options, the second set of checkout options being hidden fromdisplay and unselectable in the user interface; and enable completion ofthe checkout transaction using one of the checkout options from thefirst set of checkout options displayed on the user interface, prior toreceiving responses from the respective requests for all of the secondset of checkout options.
 2. The checkout management system of claim 1,wherein the first set of checkout options are quick-loading options, andthe second set of checkout options are slow-loading options, wherein thequick-loading options load faster than the slow-loading options.
 3. Thecheckout management system of claim 1, wherein one option of the firstset of checkout options displayed is automatically selected as a defaultoption, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured toexecute the instructions to cause the checkout management system to:responsive to selection of an option to complete the checkouttransaction, trigger completion of the checkout transaction using thedefault option.
 4. The checkout management system of claim 2, whereinthe at least one processor is further configured to execute theinstructions to cause the checkout management system to: responsive toselection of a selectable user interface element of the user interfaceat the remote client device, cause a further update of the userinterface at the remote client device to display any remainingquick-loading options, and: display a loading indicator for theslow-loading options when responses from the respective requests havenot all been received; or display the slow-loading options for whichresponses from the respective requests have all been received.
 5. Thecheckout management system of claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to execute the instructions to cause thecheckout management system to transmit the requests for checkout optionsin response to detecting a trigger event.
 6. The checkout managementsystem of claim 5, wherein the options category relates to shipping andthe trigger event is receipt of a shipping address.
 7. The checkoutmanagement system of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to execute the instructions to cause the checkoutmanagement system to determine, based on any responses from therequests, whether each of the checkout options belongs in the first setof checkout options or in the second set of checkout options.
 8. Thecheckout management system of claim 7, wherein each of the checkoutoptions are determined to belong in the first set of checkout options orthe second set of checkout options based on at least one of: a thresholdcut-off time for receiving a response; historical measurements forreceiving a response from similar requests; analysis of networkcommunications and/or fulfilment network configurations related to eachrequest; and a merchant configuration.
 9. The checkout management systemof claim 8, wherein each of the checkout options is determined to belongin the first set of checkout options or the second set of checkoutoptions based on the threshold cut-off time, the threshold cut-off timebeing dynamically determined for a customer based on historical responsetimes associated with the customer.
 10. The checkout management systemof claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is further configured toexecute the instructions to cause the checkout management system to:identify faster and slower loading options of the slow-loading options,where the slower slow-loading options require more time to receiveresponses from the respective requests than the faster slow-loadingoptions; and responsive to selection of a selectable user interfaceelement of the user interface, cause a further update of the userinterface at the remote client device to: display any remainingquick-loading options; and display the faster slow-loading options afterreceiving responses from respective requests for the faster slow-loadingoptions, prior to displaying the slower slow-loading options.
 11. Amethod comprising: providing a user interface to a remote client devicevia a network for completing a checkout transaction, the user interfaceincluding an options category associated with the checkout transaction,the options category to be populated by an associated set of two or morecheckout options during the checkout transaction; transmitting, via thenetwork, requests to obtain respective ones of the checkout options forpopulating the options category, at least one of the transmittedrequests being transmitted to a remote third-party server of a serviceprovider providing at least one of the checkout options; identify asubset of the checkout options as a first set of checkout options andone or more others of the checkout options as a second set of checkoutoptions; cause an update of the user interface at the remote clientdevice to populate the options category by displaying at least one ofthe first set of checkout options as a selectable checkout option afterreceipt of a reply to one or more of the requests and prior to displayof the second set of checkout options, the second set of checkoutoptions being hidden from display and unselectable in the userinterface; and enabling completion of the checkout transaction using oneof the at least one of the first set of checkout options displayed onthe user interface, prior to receiving responses from the respectiverequests for all of the second set of checkout options.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein the first set of checkout options are quick-loadingoptions, and the second set of checkout options are slow-loadingoptions, wherein the quick-loading options load faster than theslow-loading options.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:automatically selecting one of the at least one of the first set ofcheckout options displayed as a default option, and responsive toselection of an option to complete the checkout transaction, triggeringcompletion of the checkout transaction using the default option.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising: responsive to selection of aselectable user interface element of the user interface at the remoteclient device, cause a further update of the user interface at theremote client device to: display any remaining quick-loading options;display a loading indicator for the slow-loading options when responsesfrom the respective requests have not all been received; or display theslow-loading options for which responses from the respective requestshave all been received.
 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:detecting a trigger event and, in response, causing the system totransmit the requests for checkout options.
 16. The method of claim 15,wherein the options category relates to shipping and the trigger eventis receipt of a shipping address.
 17. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: determining whether each of the checkout options is aquick-loading option or a slow-loading option based on responses fromthe requests.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining isbased on a threshold cut-off time for receiving a response; historicalmeasurements for receiving a response from similar requests; analysis ofnetwork communications and/or fulfilment network configurations relatedto each request; and a merchant configuration.
 19. The method of claim12, further comprising: identifying faster and slower loading options ofthe slow-loading options, wherein the slower slow-loading optionsrequire more time to receive responses from the respective requests thanthe faster slow-loading options; and responsive to selection of aselectable user interface element of the user interface, cause a furtherupdate of the user interface at the remote client device to: display anyremaining quick-loading options; and display the faster slow-loadingoptions after receiving responses from respective requests for thefaster slow-loading options, prior to displaying the slower slow-loadingoptions.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storinginstructions that, when executed by a processor of a checkout managementsystem, cause the checkout management system to: provide, to a remoteclient device via a network, a user interface for completing a checkouttransaction, the user interface including an options category associatedwith the checkout transaction, the options category to be populated byan associated set of two or more checkout options during the checkouttransaction; transmit, via the network, requests to obtain respectiveones of the checkout options for populating the options category, atleast one of the transmitted requests being transmitted to a remotethird-party server of a service provider providing at least one of thecheckout options; identify a subset of the checkout options asquick-loading checkout options and one or more others of the checkoutoptions as slow-loading checkout options; cause an update of the userinterface at the remote client device to populate the options categoryby displaying at least one of the quick-loading checkout options as aselectable checkout option after receipt of a reply to one or more ofthe requests and prior to display of the slow-loading checkout options,the slow-loading checkout options being hidden from display andunselectable in the user interface; and enable completion of thecheckout transaction using one of the at least one of the quick-loadingcheckout options displayed on the user interface, prior to receivingresponses from the respective requests for all of the slow-loadingcheckout options.